Parkade Development Hitting New Hurdles

Developer Sues Town, Neighbor

June 30, 2007|By REGINE LABOSSIERE; Courant Staff Writer

MANCHESTER — There has been a year of good and bad news for groups who are interested in seeing the empty part of the Parkade developed, and town officials are saying it could take another year to resolve new problems that have arisen.

After months of rumors, town officials confirmed earlier this year that FNM Manchester LLC submitted an application to demolish the empty buildings on Broad Street and construct a one-story commercial building of 169,000 square feet and 740 parking spaces.

But in the past couple of months, FNM Manchester has withdrawn its application and sued the planning and zoning commission and the owners of the part of the Parkade that has open businesses. FNM's property abuts the section of the Parkade on West Middle Turnpike that is owned by L&J Manchester II LLC.

The problem is complicated, said Mark Pellegrini, director of economic development and neighborhood services.

First, L&J applied for a re-subdivision of its property in November, Pellegrini said. The planning and zoning commission approved the application in March.

``This was not a development application per se,'' Pellegrini said. ``It was just an application to break up a property into three sections.''

But FNM Manchester appealed the commission's decision in April. According to the lawsuit, FNM Manchester ``is an abutter and will be adversely affected by the re-subdivision of the applicant's property and the resulting multiple ownership and improper development resulting from violations of zoning and subdivision regulations in the approved plan.''

FNM Manchester is claiming the planning and zoning commission acted illegally, said Assistant Town Attorney John Sullivan.

He said FNM Manchester has to file a brief sometime in August and then the town has 30 days after that to respond. Then the three parties involved in the lawsuit will present their cases to the judge in a trial that could end in December, Sullivan said. From there, the judge will have 120 days to make a decision, Sullivan said. The judge can decide that the planning and zoning commission acted on good authority or that the commission has to review its approval of the re-subdivision application, he said.

Another problem led FNM to withdraw its application, Pellegrini said.

L&J owns a road that goes through the Parkade and FNM has access rights to the road, Pellegrini said. FNM wanted to address its concerns with the road, including easements, and wouldn't have time to go to a public hearing, so the developer removed the application, Pellegrini said.

Between the lawsuit and the concerns with the road, Pellegrini said, the town has awhile to go before any work is done on the property.

``Eventually, something will happen and something will get resolved there. Right now, this is a matter between two private property owners,'' he said. ``Right now, they're talking to each other and we have to wait and see if it gets resolved.''